Description

Since the 1990s, the international drug-control regime has eroded because many societies have decided that drug prohibitions produce more problems than benefits. Cannabis has been a prominent focus of drug-policy reforms, which has also enabled expanded production of cannabis for non-drug purposes such as fiber and oilseeds. Many jurisdictions in Europe, North America, South America, and Africa have decriminalized and/or legalized some instances of cannabis production, sales, possession, and use. The emergence of legal, open markets—such as AAG attendees will see in Denver—and the simultaneous persistence of black markets has had complex geographic effects. Yet geographic studies of the plant are surprisingly sparse, and broader knowledge of the plant has been distorted by twentieth-century war-on-drugs politics. This paper session gathers current geographical research on cannabis in California, whose marijuana economy has been enormous for decades and whose cannabis cultures are globally influential. Papers in this session examine the social, cultural, and environmental transformations that are unfolding as the Golden State establishes a legal market for cannabis.